Wildflower

the synth sound is very classic, like it kind of maks me think of Beethoven, in a way.

from personal experience (and this is probably just me, and i just wanted to spill this, and get it off my chest) i had a girlfriend for just about 6 months. she constantly titled herself a "Flower" in her poetry, and other stuff. how she would sprout in the winter, and bloom in the spring. I broke up with my Flower because, at the time, i was depressed, and narcoleptic. and if i did anything to myself, i didn't want it to affect her. i guess. that's just an excuse. everything's an excuse. our relationship was at a standstill. it always was. that's ok, she didn't want to go too far too fast, and that's ok. this song means alot to me. she's a free Wildflower that isn't held down by this mess of a person. i'm better now, thanks to my medication, but i was this close to shooting myself in the goddamn face ;D and this song will always remind me of her. without me dragging her down, she can be free. a Wildflower, in the wilderness outside.

End of the album. I'll give my thoughts on Wildflower and then on the album as a whole.

As far as Wildflower...

I think it's about acceptance, forgiveness, and moving on.

Wildflower in the wilderness outside take your chance with love and laughter

I'm big into song titles, especailly with the Pumpkins.

A wildflower is a flower that blooms, but was not intended to do so. It is a seed that was not planted, but from which a flower grew.

In some ways I think the entire album Oceania is a bit of a wildflower and here is where I will go into my recap of the entire album as a whole.

Billy began the Teagarden project in August of 2009 and Billy and the Pumpkins vision was to release songs individually.

In 2010 Billy started dating Jessica Origliasso from the Veronicas (who is from Queensland, Australlia... which is part of the Oceania region). They split in June of 2012 and Oceania was released in June.

I believe that much of this album is directed towards their relationship (much in the same way that Third Eye Blind's "Out of the Vein" was directed at Charlize Theron, who Stephen Jenkins had broken up with).

Billy has said in interviews about Oceania

"If you listen to the lyrics, it was written around some serious relationship strife. When somebody breaks your heart, you can choose to accept, embrace, and forgive them, as opposed to condemn them. I got a few albums out of [sic] condemn! Now I’m working on compassion as a device."

While there are a few songs that are incredibly bleak (Violet Rays for example), there are also a lot of songs that are very cheerful and geared towards moving on and forgiveness (Pinwheels and Inkless for example)

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If I listened to this album out of order, I would give it a 7/10. It's a solid effort and while there are a few "misses", there are also some amazing individual efforts (Schroeder is awesome on guitar, I've seen him live with the Pumpkins and he definitely holds his own) and there are some very inspiring lyrics.

Listening to the album in order, I think Oceania is a very respectable 8.5/10.

I don't know that it's entirely a concept album... but it definitely has a lot of elements of one and I fully believe that songs 4-8 (at the minimum) are very much a journey/concept.

I don't think that it tops the highs of albums like Siamese Dream or Mellon Collie... but I also don't think that the anything Billy or this Pumpkins lineup does needs to top those phenemonal albums in order to be considered a success. It's not Mellon Collie... it's something different, but different isn't always bad.

I'll sum this up. I think that Oceania succeeds because Billy has finally given up on trying to show up or replace the old Pumpkins.

Just like he's found acceptance in his loss in his relationships, he's found acceptance in his loss of the old group.

I think that Billy summed it up best:

"it is the first time where you actually hear me escape the old band. I'm not reacting against it or for it or in the shadow of it."

I don't always belive what Billy says, but in this instance... I think he's spot on. He's moved on and it shows.

I think that this continues with the concept idea of the album. This is about acceptance, moving on, and wishing better for someone else. The speaker is "wasted along the way" trying to reach the wildflower. Perhaps the wildflower is his ex-lover? Anyways, it seems like he realizes that they just aren't compatible but sees the potential in his wildflower and doesn't want him to hold her back. (I'm wasted along the way to reach you/wildflower in the wilderness outside/take your chance with love and laughter/and every word I write yeah/from the body that will never learn (him).) He knows it is over "when it's far too gone I'd move on" and almost seems to give permission for her to move on...maybe in an attempt to validate himself? (Carries over from my comment on "Inkless") Anyway, just my thoughts, I am new to the site so I would appreciate all feedback!!

And here we are. the last song off Oceania. the last chance to make a lasting impression on the listener. songs like these aren't meant to be hits. their not meant to be someones favorite song, they're meant to leave an impression, to close our album. NO reliance on power chords, but their is a really cool melody/riff/solo thingy at the end, it sounds like Pomp and Circumstances, but a lot better. "I'm Wasted, along the way to reach you.." wasted can have alot of different meanings. Either he's drunk on the way to reach his lover, or whoever. or he was killed on the way to reach his lover, or whoever. i'll write mroe later.

Song was written for a friend of Corgan's called Mark Tulin who played bass with him in a number of shows, some performed under the Pumpkins moniker. He died whilst involved in a beach cleanup accident (diving I assume) in 2011 and Corgan wrote this song as a tribute to him.